tie rod question

[STL_66 Chevy]

this maybe kind of a stupid question but....a while back i did the front dics conversions with all new ball joints and tie rod ends. i didnt tighten anything down just in case i had to go back and take things apart. thought it might be a little easier not having to pry things apart.
anyways heres the question... today i went through and tightened everything down while i am waiting for my motor to arrive. i noticed that if i tighten the rod ends down the hole for the pin is way below the castle nut... if i tighten it just enough for for the pin to go through the castle nut they seem loose. should i shim the rod ends with washers below the castle nut? anyone have same experiences? or is this normal? thanks

[joe231]

sounds like you have the wrong size tie rods, is it at the spindle you are having the problem? which spindles do you have and the tie rods are for which year? what parts did you use for the brake swap? or was it a "kit"?

[STL_66 Chevy]

it was the 5 lug disc brake conversion from brothers... it came with the entire front end rebuild kit.... plus i added 2.5 drop spindles. i ordered it all at the same time. yeah its at the spindles!

[83burban]

Do not use washers - they should not need any shimming. It sounds like either the wrong tie rod ends were sent- or they over reamed the spindles (doubtful). There is a chance that they gave you 60's tie rod ends instead of the 70's, I believe that the spindles are for 73 and later trucks and the tie rod ends are different diameters. You should call them tomorrow to find out for sure - but don't shim

[joe231]

don't rig it, make them make it right!!

[STL_66 Chevy]

thanks guys! i will call tomorrow! hopefully they will work with me and not leave me hanging out to dry?

[83burban]

I just compared my two pieces. I am using 75 drop spindles on a 64 chassis - just swapping all the ball joints and such out for the proper ones (heavier duty) - and the 60's era piece is definitely smaller and would do as you described. I think they just sent you the wrong pieces.

[TR65]

66 Chevy,

The heavier tie rod ends for your spindles will probably have a different adjuster thread than the lighter pieces. So you will need special adjuster sleeves to connect the lighter inner rod ends to the heavier outer rod ends. At least that is what I had to do.

TR

[83burban]

Originally Posted by TR65

66 Chevy,

The heavier tie rod ends for your spindles will probably have a different adjuster thread than the lighter pieces. So you will need special adjuster sleeves to connect the lighter inner rod ends to the heavier outer rod ends. At least that is what I had to do.

TR

CPP sells them for 50 bucks.

[billydonn]

As others have said, if you use the 73-87 spindles you MUST use the later, larger, outer tie rod ends with an adapter sleeve to mate the dissimilar threads. You flip the tie rods so your old outer tie rods now become the inner (#ES350L) and use the normal 73-87 outer, mating them with the special adapter sleeves. DO NOT use any kind of washers... it could get you killed. This is how it should look:

[STL_66 Chevy]

my inner and outer rods all look like the inner rods in that pic. how do you know what year spindles you have....mine are 2.5 drop from the kit?
i called brothers today and they asked me to take pics and send to them so they could see what was going on... they also said that they are going to call they manufacturer to see what the deal is. so hopefully they will have an answer tomorrow!
thanks for the help fellas! i will let you know what happens!

[billydonn]

71-87 disc brake trucks used heavier (larger diameter) ball joints and tie rod ends so for a long time we had to change these parts to make the Chevy disc brake spindles work. It was not hard to do and many of us did just fine with the changeover. In fact the 71-87 parts are stronger and more plentiful than the earlier parts.

It appears that Brothers, like others, now offers an "improved" kit that uses custom spindles that will take the earlier, smaller, tie rod ends and ball joints. This seems appealing but IMO it creates the potential for confusion too, in that there are more possibilities for part mixups... like you seem to have. (What ball joints did you use in your conversion, big or little? That's how to tell what you have.) Whichever spindle you have, it must match the ball joints and tie rod ends. Brothers seems to offer the old traditional (71-87 spindle) kit in addition to the improved one and you have to read the print carefully to actually know what you are getting. In any case you should certainly expect to get parts that work together! Good luck and keep us posted!